DRIPPING SPRINGS —Thomas Edward Watt accepted a plea deal for a charge of tampering with physical evidence, a third-degree felony, after concealing a pornographic image of a child on his cellular device during an ongoing investigation.
Watt was arrested on Jan. 22, 2020, for three counts of possession of child pornography, a first-degree felony, by Sgt. Dara Bowlin, who is a member of the Child Exploitation Unit of the Texas Attorney General’s Office Law Enforcement Division and Southern Texas Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
According to an affidavit, investigators conducted a search warrant at Watt’s residence in Dripping Springs. Several devices were searched, including a Samsung Galaxy S8 cell phone, which contained numerous files of child pornography.
In a recorded interview with Watt, he admitted to obtaining, downloading, saving and viewing files of child pornography for multiple years through The Onion Routing Network (Tor). According to the Tor Project, the mission of the network is “to advance human rights and freedoms by creating and deploying free and open-source anonymity and privacy technologies, supporting their unrestricted availability and use and furthering their scientific and popular understanding.”
According to court documents, on or about the same day of his arrest, Watt concealed a photo of an underage child during the ongoing investigation involving said pornography.
Watt was arrested once more on Nov. 3, 2020, for seven additional counts of child pornography.
After three years of multiple pre-trial motion resets and canceled jury trials, Watt accepted a plea deal for tampering with physical evidence on Aug. 8, 2023.
Because Watt used the internet to obtain the illegal material, the state had concerns about his access to the internet.
According to his defense attorney, Watt requires access to the internet because he will be working at his father's law office, but that there will be social media conditions, such as a monitoring software which will be installed on Watt's devices. However, these stipulations were not listed in the official plea bargain agreement.
The terms of the plea deal are as follows:
- State dismissal of case CR-20-0430 (the ten counts of child pornography)
- Five years of deferred adjudication community supervision
- A $2,000 fine
- Register with local law enforcement as a sex offender
- Attend treatment with a psychologist through the entire probation and follow all recommendations.
